May 15, 1568 Earthquake: Xian, Shaanxi Province, China
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Xian, Shaanxi Province, China on May 15, 1568. It killed 200 people.
Map
Where it struck, with the other significant earthquakes within 200 km. Circles are sized and colored by magnitude; select one for its page.
The earthquake
- Date
- May 15, 1568
- Place
- Xian, Shaanxi Province, China
- Magnitude
- 6.8 (Ms)
- Intensity
- 9 on the Modified Mercalli scale
- Tsunami
- None recorded
- Epicenter
- 34.400° N, 109.000° E
- Country
- China
The toll
- Deaths
- 200
- Damage
- Moderate (about $1 to $5 million)
Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.
What the record says
NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.
May 15, 1568, NE of Xian, Shaanxi Province, 34.4 N, 109 E, magnitude 6.75, intensity IX.
All houses were leveled to the ground in Baqiao and
Liuxiang of Xi'an; Huijun and Yong1e ofJingyang. More than 200 people were killed. No walls were left standing in Jingyang, Xianyang and Gaoling. A great number of people and domestic animals were wounded or killed.
Xingping: Houses were damaged. A number of
people and domestic animals were injured.
Shaking also struck Qingyang, Pingliang, Fengxiang,
Weinan (almost all houses collapsed), Fuping and
Baishui shook in the same month; also Huxian and
Zhouahi shook in the same year; Yongji, Ronghe
and Hejin of Shanxi Province shook on the same
day.
(above from reference #3939)
Other significant earthquakes nearby
Within 200 km, the deadliest first.
- January 23, 1556, Shaanxi Province, China
- August 10, 1487, Lintong, Xianyang, Shaanxi Province, China
- January 19, 1501, Chaoyi, Shaanxi Province, China
- December 13, 600, Shaanxi Province, China
- March 23, 1827, Shanxi Province, China
- April 30, 1000, Shaanxi Province, China
- January 1001, Tsin, Shaanxi Province, China
- November 7, 1789, Tongguan, Shaanxi Province, China
- December 1634, Lingtai, Gansu Province, China
- July 1631, Ningxia, China
- October 16, 1505, Anyi, Gueheng, Shanxi Province, China
More
Significant earthquakes of 1568The 1500sRecent earthquakes near hereThis day in weather history
Sources
Significant earthquakes from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. NCEI earthquake 754.